1. Field
The present general inventive concept relates to a developing device using a dual-component developer including toner and a magnetic carrier, and an image forming apparatus using the developing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, light that is modulated to correspond to image information is emitted to a photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the photoconductor, toner is supplied to the electrostatic latent image to develop the electrostatic latent image into a visible toner image, and then the visible toner image is transferred and fused onto a recording medium, thereby printing an image on the recording medium.
An image forming method of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus may be classified into a mono-component development method using a mono-component developer including toner, or a dual-component development method using a dual-component developer including toner and a carrier in which only the toner is used for development on a photoconductor.
In an image forming apparatus using a dual-component development method, a thickness of a developer attached to an outer circumferential surface of a developing roller is regulated by a first regulation member that is spaced apart by a predetermined distance from the outer circumferential surface of the developing roller. In order to obtain a high-quality printed image, a thickness of a developer layer supplied to a development area where the developing roller and a photoconductor face needs to be uniform. If the thickness of the developer layer is not uniform, image density irregularity or toner scattering may occur.